4th of July Weekend

4th of July is my favorite holiday! The kids started the weekend with some red, white & blue crafts, just for fun.

Then we went to a party at the home of a church family's brother/ son in Burlington. He has a HUGE home and hosts this massive party in his yard every year. Last year we went but it was pouring rain, so we didn't have as much fun. This year the weather was great. So he had a bounce house-- which Andrew pretty much never left the entire time we were there. And there was tons of great food. And the kids played with giant bubbles.

We ended up staying until dark and we got to play with some sparklers. The kids all handled them very well, including Abigail. They ended the night with a few professional-grade fireworks. NONE of the kids were scared. And Abigail is scared of dogs and cats. But not the loud fireworks. It was only about a minute's worth, but they were pretty impressive and Abigail actually cried for more when it was over. They were all excited that they got to stay up past dark but it was SO LATE when we got home and nobody slept on the way back, they were over-tired.

Even after our late night, we got up early to go to a parade in Bristol. 4th of July parades are big here because Vermont really doesn't have parades at Christmas. We had to wait awhile for the parade to start, but the kids got to play on a playground and eat some fried bread dough (funnel cake). The parade was pretty good, too.

Afterward, we went to some friends' house for a cookout. The kids enjoyed the trampoline. The weather got cool but there was no rain, like last year. We had great food and company and really enjoyed our day together!